Too high aluminum content! Fried dough sticks may be a killer of intelligence

Aluminum-containing foods explode in series! Since the middle of last month, commercially available kelp and water quality from Taiwan Water Corporation's water purification plants have been found to contain high levels of aluminum. The Consumers Foundation also released survey data today, finding that up to 67% of donuts, fried dough sticks, kelp and vermicelli contain aluminum. Among them, 6 samples of fried dough sticks commonly eaten by the elderly contained aluminum, and 3 of them had aluminum levels between 400 and 600 ppm. Long-term consumption may easily increase the risk of dementia.

The Consumer Foundation today released a food aluminum testing report, finding that alum is used in the production of fried dough sticks, making it the item with the highest aluminum content. (Photography by Luo Huiwen)

If the aluminum content in the human body is too high, it may cause neurofibromatosis, damage brain tissue, cause memory and intellectual decline, and induce dementia. However, among the six fried dough sticks samples that are commonly eaten by the elderly, one had an aluminum content between 200 and 300 ppm, two between 300 and 400 ppm, and three between 400 and 600 ppm. All of them fell below the standard and had the highest aluminum content among all the test items.

Li Zheyu, associate professor of the Department of Food and Beverage Management at Taipei City University of Science and Technology, pointed out that the aluminum content of fried dough sticks that consumers often eat for breakfast is too high. The reason is that the leavening agent containing aluminum, that is, alum composed of aluminum sulfate, is added during the production process. She explained that leavening agents are divided into two types: natural vitamin fermentation and chemical pollen. The alum used in fried dough sticks is the slowest type of chemical pollen. It does not ferment and expand slowly like donuts or steamed buns, but reacts with carbon dioxide and water the moment it comes into contact with high temperature and expands immediately.

In response to this, Li Zheyu said that alum is a legal additive in the production process of fried dough sticks, but even though the same alum is used, the aluminum content in each fried dough stick is different. In addition, there are many forms of leavening agents. For the sake of public health, how to assist catering operators in switching to other leavening agents that do not contain aluminum will become a major challenge for the government.

Zhang Zhigang, vice chairman of the Consumer Foundation, said that according to the current domestic food standards, there are no relevant regulations on aluminum content. Even though some studies have shown that aluminum can be metabolized outside the body and only a small amount is accumulated in the body, in the absence of assurance that aluminum is harmful to the human body, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization still set the weekly allowable intake of aluminum at 2 mg (milligrams) per person per kilogram of body weight in 2011, while the European Union set it at 1 mg. Even mainland China has set a maximum aluminum residue limit of 100 ppm for some foods, calling on the Taiwanese government to follow suit as soon as possible.

Among the 24 samples tested by the Consumer Foundation, most of the fried dough sticks, donuts, vermicelli, kelp and steamed buns contained aluminum. (Photography by Luo Huiwen)

In response to the results of this investigation, Huang Yuyu, publisher of Consumer Reports Magazine, announced that the products tested included donuts, fried dough sticks, doughnuts, kelp and vermicelli. 16 out of the 24 samples contained aluminum, a proportion as high as 67%. The survey results show that the aluminum content in donuts, which are loved by children, can be as high as 200-300 ppm; the fried dough sticks that are most commonly eaten for breakfast by the elderly all contain aluminum, with the highest content ranging from 400-600 ppm; the highest aluminum content in kelp is 300-400 ppm; and the aluminum content in steamed buns and vermicelli that is often used for hot pot is 30-130 ppm.